


The captain goes down with the ship

by talesofthelovelorn



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 03:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12695850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofthelovelorn/pseuds/talesofthelovelorn
Summary: What happens to the group when Minho almost dies, they break into their own cafe and Taemin almost gets Jinki fired?





	The captain goes down with the ship

**Author's Note:**

> This is the idea that started my whole Starbucks AU so it’s near and dear to my heart and I need you all to be gentle. I was inspired by Kibums insta live where he told us all about Shinee being drunk at his place. Bonus points if you can recognise all the irl shinee moments I tried to incorporate.

Jinki’s legs felt heavy, his feet dragging as he stumbled through the snow with a soft dopey smile gracing his face. His smile grew looking down at his hand, fingers intertwined with Minho’s whose cheeks and nose were flushed pink - a combination of cold and alcohol. Jinki’s chest felt like it was going to burst. He leant up and placed a chaste kiss on Minho’s cheek that produced the most beautiful smile from the taller and a small whine behind him. 

“Jiiiinkiiiiiiiii~ me too me toooooo~!” Jonghyun said, grabbing onto Jinki’s free hand with his mittens and batting his eyelashes. Tonight was a good night. 

Jonghyun looked cute to Jinki with his frost-bitten nose and hazy eyes and he huffed out a laugh as Jonghyun pouted even harder. He pretended to contemplate whether he should kiss the cute man next him, biting his lip in contemplation and also to slightly tease Jonghyun. Eventually he let out a dramatic sigh before he closed his eyes and bent down to appease the younger who was now starting to frown. Jinki slowly bent towards Jonghyun, hearing an impatient whine before his lips were met with a cold hand. As he opened his eyes he saw Taemin on the other side of Jonghyun, holding Jonghyun’s face and planting a very wet kiss on his soft cheeks. Jinki’s eyes widened at the disrespect. A contented giggle escaped the shortest, his cheeks flushed a pink that rivalled his hair and Taemin looked Jinki straight in the eyes and smiled. That was the last straw.

Jinki bent down and gathered snow with his bare hands - a feat that made him all the more intimidating - and Taemin’s eyes widened with fear. 

“N-now now let’s be reasonable,” he stammered letting go of Jonghyun who was still softly smiling and stepped backwards. “Jinki… old buddy old pal-”

“Are you calling him old?” Minho prodded with a grin, now watching everything from behind and gleefully waiting to see Taemin get wrecked. 

“Ming! How dare you I would never I know people in their old age tend to get a bit sensit-” Taemin froze feeling the collar of his shirt pull a second before wet and cold slush was dumped down his back. He screamed and jumped trying to get the snow out of his his shirt before he stumbled and fell onto the side of the footpath. The other three looked down at the smaller figure, now a mess of splayed limbs, who resigned himself to his fate.

“I guess… I’ll just lay here and die,” Taemin sighed rolling onto his back and gazing up at the sky. He slowly started moving his arms and legs in a lazy attempt at a snow angel. 

“I’m going to come back and haunt you all…except you Jonghyun you’re cute,” Taemin said closing his eyes ready to embrace the cold grasp of death before his dramatic display was interrupted by a very drunk but surprisingly coherent Kibum. 

“The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen…” 

“Oh god Kibum not again,” Minho complained, his big smile giving him away.

“A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the Queen,” Kibum continued unfazed by Minho’s fake disapproval, dramatically wrapping his scarf around himself like a cape. 

Taemin still on the ground, cracked open one eye recognising the song “LET IT GOOO LET IT GO” he belted out the one part of the song he knew. 

“Taemin that was too early and WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!” Kibum yelled finally noticing Taemin’s position in the snow but making no move to actually help the younger, who was still clumsily flailing his limbs.

“Kibum… my one and only friend… Lee Jinki is not the man you think he is he… has very warm hands oh my god how” Taemin moaned as Jinki lifted him up, brushing the snow out of his hair. Taemin let out a soft smile, leaning into Jinki’s hand before feeling a cold nose brush over his. Taemin scrunched his face trying to control the fluttering in his chest as Jinki continued to eskimo kiss him in apology. 

The younger grumbled and halfheartedly swatted at Jinki with his cold hands but soon found himself lulled by the soothing sensation of their noses brushing against each other and Jinki’s warm breath against his face. 

From behind them Jinki could hear Jonghyun’s sweet laugh chiming through the night air. It seemed as if the others already found something else to do “…and the winner gets a kiss from me~!”. 

Jinki turned around as he heard a countdown begin and saw Kibum and Minho lined up heckling and nudging each other with their elbows. As Jonghyun counted his way to 1 the sober part of Jinki’s mind belatedly realised this was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Kibum and Minho broke out into a sprint, the younger taking the lead in a few long strides. Jonghyun let out a cheer as the two reached a lamppost down the road, attempting to turn and race back. The combination of slippery ice and alcohol didn’t work in Minho’s favour and the four of them saw Minho slip and fall - seemingly landing on his head - in slow motion. 

Kibum slipped to a halt in front of Minho, eyes wide as Minho didn’t move. The other three rushed towards them, careful not to slip themselves and tears were already collecting themselves in Kibum’s eyes. Jonghyun looked equally ready to start crying before he dramatically dropped to his knees next to Minho’s head, slowly lifting shaky fingers to towards the man still unmoving on the ground. That is, until they heard a little pained laugh from the ground below them.

Minho blearily opened his eyes and was startled to see the other four surrounding him and looking so distraught. Before he had a chance to reassure them he’s fine Minho felt the weight of Jonghyun on top of his chest and the older let out tiny sobs of relief and apology. Minho lifted his hand to pet Jonghyun’s hair and looked to Kibum to ask for help but was met with a similar predicament. A tear rolled off Kibum’s eyelashes and fell onto Minho’s face, stunning the man still on the ground. 

“Hey hey it’s okay it’s fine! I’m fine!” he tried to reassure before the others joined in the dramatic display. Taemin was stroking a reassuring thumb against the back of Jinki’s hand, the older frowning in concern at Minho.

“I think we should go home,” Jinki said.

“NO! What if he falls into a coma? I read somewhere that if you hit your head and sleep then you can die” blabbered Jonghyun who was still resting his head against Minho’s chest.

“I’m not going to die hyung,” chuckled Minho as he sat himself up, moving to gently wipe the tears from Jonghyun’s face. 

“Yeah you better not” a voice mumbled from behind Minho as he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, pulling him to his feet before he was wrapped in a warm hug. Kibum tilts his head to the side to kiss Minho’s head and nuzzle into his hair. 

“Let me take you home,” he whispered into the soft locks.

A cough came from the ground and they saw a disgruntled, still teary eyed Jonghyun wiping the snow from his knees. He was promptly wrapped in a hug by Jinki who was murmuring soft words of comfort that seemed to calm him. Jonghyun whined and nuzzled closer into Jinki’s warmth, pressing his cold nose onto the warm neck in front of him.

Minho swayed in Kibum’s embrace and Taemin stepped forwards to softly bump their foreheads together. 

“Only if you let me come with you,” he whispered and Minho shakily let out a breath, arms coming up to wrap around both Taemin and Kibum’s waists. Kibum bit his lower lip and with glassy eyes looking towards the both of them before his reverie was interrupted. 

“Whatever you’re thinking save it for later when we’re not going to get hypothermia” Jinki called, a shivering Jonghyun now wrapping himself even further around the man.

“Here hop on” Kibum says kneeling on the ground in front of Minho. Minho stared dazedly at the kneeling figure and before he could overthink the logistics of Kibum carrying him, Minho draped himself over the older, legs awkwardly splayed to the sides. 

“mmmmm love youuu” he mumbled into Kibum’s hair. 

“You must’ve really hit your head,” laughed Kibum, hooking his arms around Minho’s legs and lifting them both with surprising ease. 

“Noo~” Minho said through a yawn “I really love you so SO SO much Bummie”

“HEY don’t fall asleep on me! Jonghyun was right before,” Kibum shook Minho trying to keep him awake, snorting at the cute confession. Kibum tried and failed to contain his smile when he felt a disgruntled snuffle and the beginning of soft snores into his neck from the man on his back. 

“Don’t you think he's so loveable?” he said to Taemin who was walking beside them holding Minho’s limp hand. 

“You both are,” Taemin said with surprising lucidity that flustered Kibum. Unable to cover his face Kibum hid his blushing face in his chunky knit scarf while Taemin snorted a gentle “stop being so cute” next to him, flustering the older more. 

“Taemin stop he’s about to explode,” laughed Jinki from behind them who was still draped over a now less grumbly, more sleepy Jonghyun. Taemin just laughed and moved away giving Kibum space to be flustered.

“Shhh m’not” Kibum mumbled into his scarf. Jonghyun then flitted up to the other side of Kibum dragging Jinki with him. He pulled down Kibum’s scarf and gave a sweet kiss to the top of his cheek. 

“I’m going to die” whispered Kibum and the rest laughed. He was their favourite target, even more so when he’d been drinking, because of the blush that would ride high on his cheeks and the endearing way he would curl in on himself.

“We’re all going to die soon if we don’t get somewhere warm,” whined Jonghyun who was now pulling Taemin from the snow for the second time tonight as the younger insisted on making a snow angel on every block. He was already damp he’d reasoned. Jinki raised his eyebrows and he knew where this was going.

“Well~ work’s only-“ Taemin started.

“No” 

“Pleaaaase”

“No”

“Pretty please” Jonghyun added

“No”

“But we’ve always said we should have a sleepover~”

“N-“

“Can we please deicide where we’re going while Minho is NOT on my back?!” Kibum interjected, rustling the still sleeping Minho who let out a small snuffle and burrowed himself further into Kibum’s neck.

Jinki stopped for a brief moment taking in the beautiful mess that was their group and sighed in defeat.

“Fine… But if Amber finds out I’m so fired,” Jinki warned. It seemed to fall on deaf ears as Taemin and Jonghyun whooped and ran to Jinki linking their arms together, Taemin using the momentum to slingshot himself around and jump into another pile of snow. Jinki knew somewhere in the back of his mind he should regret his decision but the mix of love, alcohol and relief that Minho wasn’t injured brought a dopey smile to his face. He watched Jonghyun try to rescue Taemin from the third pile of snow only to be dragged down himself and approached the two with a grin on his face. 

The other two gulped as they saw Jinki bending his knees preparing to launch himself onto the pair however, they promptly burst into a fit of giggles when both of his knees cracked. The older crumpled in on himself trying not to smile at the muffled laughs coming from the Taemin and Jonghyun as they wiped tears of mirth from their eyes. 

“I. AM. LEAVING. BYE” Kibum called out, already walking towards their work with a snuggly and increasingly heavy Minho still draped over his back. 

Taemin snorted at his impatience and pulled Jinki’s arm so that the older fell forward on top of him and Jonghyun, landing with an ‘oof!’. Both Taemin and Jonghyun chuckled and gently pressed cold kisses onto Jinki’s cheeks.

“Love you for letting us stay~” cooed Taemin in a sickly sweet voice and Jinki gently head butted him. 

“Shhh you know that doesn’t suit you”

“Mmm but you love it anyway,” Taemin hummed in agreement. A small hum escaped the man still lying next to them and they turned to notice Jonghyun, his eyes slowly raking over Jinki’s face, stopping at his lips before moving to do the same to Taemin. He shivered and the other two couldn’t tell if it was from the snow or something else. Jinki let out a fond laugh as he stood up.

“Come on lets go have our sleep over,” he said pulling Jonghyun and then Taemin from the snow and into his warm embrace for what he hoped was the last time that night.

They walked hand-in-hand quickly catching up to a weary Kibum just a few steps from their cafe, a shining beacon of hope in the wintery landscape. Jinki pulled out the key and looked each of them in the eyes - hoping Minho would somehow hear him through his slumber

“Remember… not a peep.”

When the others nodded in assent he unlocked the door and covertly snuck inside, holding the door open for the others. Kibum sighed with relief as he sat down and unloaded Minho from his back, depositing him on the nearest couch.

“Kibum noooo” Jinki whispered “take him to the back of the store this is all windows”. 

“Honestly I’ll be surprised if I can take myself to the back of the store,” replied Kibum who was now feeling the effects of carrying the older for so long. He rested his head on the table and watched Jinki locking the front doors. 

“Okay get up” Jinki said.

Kibum raised his head to argue but stopped when felt arms wrap around him and lift him to stand. Strong arms then moved to his thighs to lift him up and he instinctively wrapped this legs around Jinki’s waist.

“Oh” Kibum said dumbly and he was carried to the back of the store by Jinki. Kibum blushed while he was gently lowered onto a couch and he thanked Jinki with a shy smile, before a blush rose on his cheeks at Jinki’s hands now lingering on his thighs. Noticing movement behind the older he saw Taemin and Jonghyun very poorly guiding a now grumpy and awake Minho to sit next to Kibum.

“I’m gonna go make some coffee for everyone,” Taemin said to the horror of the others, as he let go of Minho.

“No nono you’ll break something” Jonghyun said, grabbing the youngest “and so will you Jinks” stopping the older who’d stepped towards the stairs. “I can do it. I want to practice my latte art anyway” he affirmed, making his way down the stairs and behind the counter to start up the coffee machine. 

Taemin shrugged and moved himself to sit behind Kibum who was massaging his own shoulders, sore from carrying Minho who looked at him apologetically. Taemin moved Kibum’s hands and replaced them with his own slowly kneading into the sore muscles. Kibum let out a sigh and his head lolled back to rest on Taemin’s shoulder behind him. The two stayed entranced by each other nothing but warm hands and soft murmurs exchanged between them, Kibum’s eyes gently fluttering shut at the intimacy of the moment.

Jonghyun returned minutes later with 5 mugs of coffee each with a puppy face more distinct than the last, grinning at his creations. 

“Hey where’s the other two??” he asked looking around. Taemin and Kibum hadn’t noticed the other two disappearing. 

“Here!” came Jinki’s muffled voice behind a stack of blankets. He handed them out “you’re all wet-“

“You bet we are!”

“Taemin please… You’re all wet,” he began again ignoring Taemin’s laugh “and cold from the snow so just change and warm up”

“Why do you have these here?” Kibum raised a questioning eyebrow at the blankets.

“Oooh,” Jonghyun cooed sidling up to Jinki, handing him a mug of coffee which was greatly appreciated “you’ve been preparing for a sleepover!” 

“Whatever just… shhh warm up and go to sleep we all have work in…” Jinki looked at his watch and groaned “5 hours.”

They all blankly stared down at their mugs of coffee in regret slowly sipping at them and feeling the warmth creep through their bodies. A grinning and far too happy Minho stumbled up the stairs to the back and flopped down face first on one of the couches. 

“What have you done?” questioned Jinki, who was sleepily leaning on Jonghyun.

“Nothing~” teased Minho and the older just sighed. He’ll deal with this tomorrow.

Jinki moved two cushions from the couches at the front of the store and placed them on the ground in front of Minho. 

“I’m staying here to make sure you don’t die in your sleep,” he said lying down on his makeshift bed. Minho gave a small chuckle and let his hand flop into Jinki’s soft brown hair ruffling the soft strands. 

“Mmmkay I love you” he said, eyes slipping shut. Jonghyun smiled and collected the mugs to take them downstairs.

“Don’t worry about me you know I don’t sleep much” he reassured Jinki who sat up to help, before disappearing down the stairs to tidy up. Jinki looked up to see Taemin and Key already falling asleep against each other, Taemin’s hands still gently rubbing Kibum’s shoulders while the older rested against his chest. 

Taemin caught his eye and mouthed a goodnight to Jinki who somehow managed to lay down and quickly fall into a fitful sleep. 

____

 

The morning arrived all too quickly and they all jolted at the sound of an alarm ringing through the cafe. 

“mmmmturn it offffffff” Kibum whined into Taemin’s chest, knowing all too well that his throbbing head was only going to get worse throughout the day. After a few seconds of trying to grab for his phone that wasn’t on a bedside table next to him he realised that he was not in his bed and his pillow was a living, breathing human. 

“Wait… how did we get here?” Kibum asked, eyes widening as he looked around despite the pain the light brought to his head. He looked towards a now wide awake Minho. Kibum bitterly thought that the man didn’t look hungover in the slightest.

“You don’t remember?” Minho responded

“Obviously not or I wouldn’t be asking,” Kibum snapped, moving his hands to rub at his neck and shoulders. “Ughhhh why does everything hurt?”

“Because you carried Minho all the way here” called Jinki as he ascended the stairs with steaming mugs of coffee. He was always alarmingly immune to alcohol.

Kibum balked. 

“I did what?!”

“You seriously don’t remember??” 

“WHY WOULD I BE ASKING IF I REMEMBERED?” Kibum yelled jolting both Taemin and the lump of blankets on the floor awake, before clutching at his hair in regret. 

An unintelligible groan came from the mess on the floor - Jonghyun by process of elimination Kibum figured - and Kibum responded with a mumbled apology. 

“Minho slipped and you thought he was going to die so you carried him,” Jinki explained while bringing up the rest of the coffee. It was only 6am but they all needed to go home and get ready for their shifts that started in an hour and Jinki knew the best way to coerce the others was caffeine. The other’s always said there was something magical about they way he made it, so over time he’d learnt to use it as a bribe or reward under certain circumstances. 

“Haaaaaa you care about me~” teased Minho who was sitting up sipping on his coffee with a bright smile on his face. It was too damn bright in Kibum’s opinion and he gently rocked back and forth, hands still buried in his hair. 

“How are all of you so damn peppy?” Kibum whispered.

“I dunno about that. I think Jonghyun is dead” Taemin said, prodding the lifeless form on the floor with his foot. A hand came from the pile of blankets to feebly swat him away and Jinki knelt down to carefully uncover Jonghyun’s rumpled face. 

“Put it back or I’m going to die Jinks”

“Sorry but you’re opening with Minho and I, you gotta get up” Jinki apologised “I made your favourite though~”. He knew this was the only thing that might work to revive Jonghyun. His suspicions were correct when Jonghyun’s eyes widened and he made grabby hands towards the last cup of coffee in Jinki’s hands.

After passing it to Jonghyun, Jinki stood and turned to the group.

“You guys really cannot let Amber know okay?” he said seriously. Their store manager was cool and all but Jinki was pretty sure this was breaking and entering or something and he really didn’t want to lose his job. The other three nodded very seriously and Minho poked Kibum who let out a weak “~yes” in confirmation - still too sore to move properly.

“Jinki I’m calling in sick” Kibum mumbled rubbing his face.

“No you’re not we’ve got the new winter menu rolling out today and we need you” Jinki sighed. “Can someone escort Kibum home?”

Taemin nodded.

“Yeah I feel fine. Plus we both start two hours after you guys”

Taemin moved to stand pulling a resistant Kibum with him who let out a pained noise. 

“Can someone escort me home too~?” said Jonghyun and Jinki ran his hands through his in frustration. Today was going to be a long day.

_____

The other four had retreated to Kibum’s apartment to shower and get ready since it was the closest while Jinki stayed to open the cafe. He checked the registers and the coffee machines, tidied the sandwich display and changed the promotional posters to the new winter menu. 

He wanted to die. Or shower. He wasn’t really sure which one was more important right now. Probably dying.

Checking over the kitchen once more he noticed the convection oven on and his eyes widened in fear. Cracking the door open and praying that nothing was inside Jinki noticed a mug sitting inside. What? Mumbling to himself he grabbed a cloth, took the mug out to rest on the counter and turned the oven off. Inspecting it closely Jinki noticed it was scribbled on in Minho’s usually pristine handwriting “Kibum-ah I love you”. 

“So this is why he was so pleased last night” Jinki laughed to himself at Minho’s cuteness. Even in his drunk (probably concussed) state he had to make sure his love was permanently declared. He moved the mug into Kibum’s locker to find when he starts his shift. 

He heard a knock on the door and saw a now more lively looking Jonghyun and Minho. Jinki moved to let them in and smiled when they handed him a pile of clothes and some baby wipes. 

“We figured you’d want to feel a bit more alive”. 

Jinki almost cried.

________

Two hours later after a surprisingly slow morning both Taemin and Kibum showed up and Jinki was impressed. He really hadn’t expected the older to show up. However-

“Kibum batwing shirts are not part of the uniform” Jinki chided.

“Jinki if you don’t let me be comfy today I will quit right now. I will write my letter of resignation on a napkin I don’t care” Kibum deadpanned and Taemin nudged him. 

“Shhhh he looks dead in the eyes” he said staring concernedly at Jinki who just laughed.

“I’m okay Taemin” Jinki smiled a bit too cheerfully. 

“O-kaaaaayyy you’re creeping me out” Kibum replied and moved to the register right as the blender started. 

“What the Ffffffff-rappuccino would you like today?” Kibum yelled, catching himself before he swore and turning his frown into his blinding customer service smile to take the next order. After customers left he turned to Minho who was grinning at him. 

“Why are people ordering Frappuccino’s in winter?!” he hissed as he placed the cup next to Minho. Kibum’s head was still throbbing and he was sure that other was enjoying this torture session - he didn’t normally blend them for this long did he??

“You were the one who made us go out for ice cream last week” snorted Minho while passing him painkillers he’d prepared earlier knowing how horrible a hungover Kibum was to work with “something about how the cold enhances-“

“Shhhhhhhut up if I have to listen to you for one more second I’m going to put you in the blender” Kibum said swallowing the pills dry.

“You’re both going into the blender if you don’t keep working” Jinki interjected behind them, the cheery smile on his face conflicting with the shadows over his eyes. Kibum glared at Minho before silently going back to the registers while the other continued making the slow trickle of orders, both of them not wanting to be on Jinki’s bad side. As Kibum turned around he realised why Jinki was looking stressed. Standing on the other side of the counter with a sly smile was Amber. 

Kibum gulped as she laughed asking “rough night?” to which he could only respond with a mumbled excuse of “ahhh had trouble sleeping”. At that point Taemin came back to dispose of the empty cups he’d collected and without looking up he started loudly venting to Jonghyun who had silently been making the other orders - wincing every time he had to listen to the squeal of the milk frother. 

“Ugh Jjong can you believe people spilt hot chocolate on my sleeping cou-“ Taemin coughed as he received a swift jab to the ribs from Jinki. He looked up at the older startled before he noticed Amber who’s eyebrows were now raising. 

“So… Jinki can I see you in my office for a second?” Amber said, motioning towards the oldest as she started walking to the back of the store. 

Jinki’s eyes widened as he looked to the other’s who looked equally as worried, Taemin’s face paling by the second as he watched them disappear around the corner. 

“Oh god oh god oh my GOD! I-I-I didn’t mean to-“

“WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU TALK ABOUT IT SO LOUDLY” Minho yelled.

“WELL YOU’RE YELLING TOO”

“YEAH BUT NOT ABOUT THAT”

“STOP TALKING SO LOUDLY”

“NO YOU STOP”

“NO YOU”

“YOU”

A pained whine came from Jonghyun who was resting on the coffee machine, and they both stopped. 

“It’s okay let me go check it out” Kibum said passing them and walking towards to office with a tray a coffee samples.   
Before Kibum entered he overheard frustrated voices and stood outside the door for a few seconds.

“No you can’t do that it’s not fair!” Kibum could hear the frustration in Jinki’s voice and he gulped before knocking on the door.

“I’m sorry but I have no choice” he heard Amber reasoning before she called for him to enter. 

“I uhh.. brought you one of the new blends to try” said Kibum not taking his eyes off Jinki. He lightly frowned in question and Jinki’s eyes softened. With a slight nod of his head and upward turn of his lips Jinki hoped he was reassuring Kibum that everything was alright. 

————————

“He’s being fired” Kibum panicked as he returned back to the others.

Jonghyun gently lowered his head to rest on the coffee machine again in defeat and Minho moved to rub his back soothingly while nervously looking over his shoulder at the office door. 

“NO! What?! They can’t just do that!” Taemin balked.

“Yeah he was all like ‘this isn’t fair!’ and when I went in he was trying to smile but he looked so tired and sad” 

The four of them stood there for a moment contemplating the next move before Taemin spoke up.

“It was my idea I’ll just go in and tell her”

“Then you’ll just get fired too” Minho protested.

“She can’t fire all of us” Taemin responded, giving Jonghyun an idea.

“Lets all quit” he said softly as if his own voice was hurting him, which it probably was. “She won’t want to lose all of us. We all threaten to quit if she fires Jinki and she won’t do it.” Jonghyun lifted his head and looked each other them in the eye. They didn’t have back up jobs and they really couldn’t afford to lose this one but they were a team and they’ll be damned if they let Jinki get fired without trying.

With no plan they all marched down the hall and knocked on the door, vibrating with nervous anticipation before they hear Amber call for them to come in. They opened the door and stumbling over each other the four of them yelled.

“IF HE GOES WE ALL GO” 

“YEAH! IF HE DIES WE ALL DIE” 

“THE CREW WILL GO DOWN WITH THE CAPTAIN… SHIP… is that???” 

“No Taem it’s ‘the captain goes down with the ship’ but TRUE" 

Both Amber and Jinki watched startled, their eyes progressively widening with each statement until Jinki cut them all off with nothing more than a soft clearing of his throat. 

“Amber and I were just discussing next months rosters” Jinki calmly through a tight smile “was there something you all needed?”

“Ohhh..ahh… we just couldn’t …remember which movie that quote was from…yeah..” Taemin excused. 

“The Titanic”

“Ahhh yes wonderful, what a great movie! Rose totally had space on that door am I right? Well we’ll just be on our way then,” Taemin babbled as he began pushing the other members out of the small office. “Have a nice day Amber” he turned and bowed a full 90 degrees, the others quickly following suit. 

She merely observed them nonchalantly with an amused smile on her face, before reaching into the top drawer of her desk. 

“Oh Kibum! I found this in my locker but I think this was meant for you” Amber said pulling out Minho’s mug from last night, watching as Jinki and Minho’s eyes widened. In his tired state Jinki must have placed it in the wrong locker. 

The five of them held their breath waiting for Amber to continue but she just held her hand out until Kibum shakily took the cup from her with a quiet “thanks” and she smiled. 

They quickly shuffled out, faces pale Jonghyun reaching out in a panic to hold Taemin’s hand which was uncomfortably clammy. Kibum observed the mug in his hand and his heart swelled at the scrawled message though he couldn’t bring himself to smile at the moment. They all turned to Minho searching for an explanation from the man but decided against asking as he looked as queasy as they were feeling. 

“…she knows because of me” he whispered while grabbing at his hair. The rest tried to sound reassuring but they themselves weren’t sure what was going to happen now the panic was beginning to bubble up to the surface. 

Jinki gave a strained smile inside the office as he could hear the rest babbling outside the closed office door, much louder then they thought. He quickly excused himself and Amber nodded looking nothing less than highly amused before he rushed out of the door to find the rest nervously chattering to themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Jinki said sternly and they looked to their shoes guiltily. 

“Kibum said he overheard you getting fired and we couldn’t let that happen” Jonghyun explained.

“Yeah I heard you saying it’s not fair and…” Kibum trailed off when he saw Jinki sigh and hold the bridge of his nose.

“I said it was unfair because she was trying to swap Taemin and Jonghyun’s shifts…”

“What?” Jongnhyun protested “but I normally have-“

“Your gigs yeah I know that’s why I’ve been working on it”

“W-what about last night?”

“She actually gave me a raise. Something about being impressed by how… attached my employees are and how that reflects on my leadership abilities”. At this Jinki let out a small smile “What were you guys doing? You could have all lost your jobs.”

Before the rest could answer Amber opened the door and breezed past calling out over her shoulder.

“Minho… you’re going to have to pay for that mug. Now get back to work please!”

“Yes ma’am!”

As the rest cleared out to get back to work Jinki nudged Kibum and motioned towards the cup that was held in still slightly shaking hands “you gonna keep it?”

"I have to keep it. What can I do? I have no choice. He's so loveable…" Kibum said with a fond smile and Jinki couldn’t disagree. 

“So are you you know”, Kibum said nudging Jinki and the older blushed “I don’t think we’ve ever been this stressed over something at work before”. A loud clattering was heard from the kitchen followed by the sound of breaking ceramic. 

“Hold that thought” Jinki sighed and Kibum barked out a laugh watching as the older walked back out into the mayhem.

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far ily. Anyway I like writing cute things so I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did


End file.
